Ready Set Grover!
by Allie2
Summary: The characters from Betsy Haynes "The Fabulous Five" begin their schoolyear as 8th graders Wakeman Middle School.
1. Default Chapter

Beth

Beth

"It's so nice to know what we're doing this year," my best friend, Jana Morgan, sighed. "I remember last year when we were so freaked out about being at a new school and being the youngest class and everything. But this year... starting school is pretty cool. I mean, old Wacko really feels like a second home." 

I nodded as I walked up the front steps of Wakeman Middle School with my Jana and the rest of my best friends, The Fabulous Five. It was the first day of 8th grade for us, and we'd be hanging out at our usual spot on the school grounds, talking to friends we hadn't seen much over the summer, when the first bell rang, which was a signal that it was time for us to find our lockers and get to our homerooms. 

"I know," I agreed. "As much as I hate to say it about SCHOOL, being at Wacko again is kind of a nice, familiar feeling."

Melanie Edwards groaned. "You won't feel that way in a few weeks when you're buried under mountains of homework and school projects." 

"Aw, Mel," Katie Shannon grinned, shifting her backpack. "Don't tell me you aren't just thrilled to be back at school? Such a surprise. I always thought school was your favorite place to be." 

We all laughed as Mel stuck her tongue out at Katie. Melanie isn't the School Person of our group, that's for sure. She'd much rather be just about anywhere but school... namely at the mall, or Bumpers, the middle school fastfood hangout down the street. 

"Well, I can tell you one thing for sure," Christie Winchell said empathetically as we started squeezing our way down the hall. "I'm thrilled to be back at Wacko. I mean, St. Meg's was ok, but I'd take Wacko anyday." 

Christie had moved to London, England in late winter during 7th grade, and had to spend the second half of the school year at St. Margaret's (or St. Meg's)- an all girls school. She had made friends there and everything, but according to Christie, it had been really old fashioned and everyone had to wear these weird uniforms. 

"Well, DUH," Melanie huffed in response to Christie's statement. "There were no BOYS at St. Margaret's!" 

Jana giggled. "And you know? What more is there to school then seeing boys?" 

"Nothing," Melanie replied matter of factly, and we all laughed. Mel is the most boycrazy girl in the world. Even having a terrific boyfriend doesn't keep her from constantly being on the lookout for hotties or flirting when she gets the chance. 

"Speaking of boys," Mel continued. "There's Shane by the water fountain. I'm going to go talk to him. I'll see you guys later, ok?"

"Ok," Katie agreed. "At lunch if not sooner." 

As Melanie trotted off in the direction of her boyfriend, (Shane Arrington), Katie, Christie and Jana continued on towards the 8th grade locker section. But I hung back a minute, trying to get a better look at the boy Shane was talking with. He was average height, with strawberry blonde hair and a really neat smile. I had never seen him before, so I figured he must be new. Maybe from Grover! I thought suddenly. Wacko was getting some kids from Grover Jr High this year. (Something about their junior high closing down or something- Grover was a really small town.) But the boy looked too nice to be from Grover, which is known for the mean, tough people that live there. 

"Hey, Beth! Hurry up!" I heard Katie yell over all the noise from down the hall. 

I nodded back and started making my way in her direction, still thinking about the boy. One thing was for sure- I was definitely going to find out who he was, whether he was from Grover or not.


	2. Mona

Mona

Mona

"Excuse me? Hi, sorry to bother you, but could you please tell me where the girls restroom is?" 

I turned from my locker and pointed down the hall. "Yeah, it's right down there. See the sign for the teacher's lounge? Well, it's the first room on the right past it." 

"Thank you!" The girl- obviously a 6th grader- sighed with relief and took off down the hall. 

I smiled and shook my head. It had been tempting to give her the wrong directions, just for fun, because I mean, really- isn't that kind of a right of the upperclassman? But I remembered myself last year when I was in 7th grade, and Wakeman had been a junior high instead of a middle school- meaning that I'd been in the underclass. I had heard all the warnings about never asking an 8th or 9th grader for help with anything, but I hadn't had any other choice one day during the first week of school. I kept forgetting how to get to my English Lit class, and had been running late, so I asked an older girl for help. I had thought she looked nice, but apparently, she wasn't THAT nice. To make a long story short, I ended up way on the wrong side of the building and had gotten in trouble with my Ms. Dickenson, the English Lit teacher. It sure didn't help my first week of school any, and I didn't wish that experience on anyone.

I slammed my locker door shut and started for my homeroom. It was a nice feeling to know exactly where the room was and be able to walk down the hall with confidence that I'd make it there on time, while tons of younger kids around me were frantically checking their schedule cards and looking around at the same time for the right room. 

I made it to my homeroom with time to spare and got great seat in the middle. Kids started arriving immediatly after I got myself settled and I was able to watch everyone else enter the rom. I recognized nearly all the teens filtering in. There were obviously a few new ones, though, and I tried to figure out which ones had merely moved to town and which ones were from Grover. There were all kinds of rumors floating around about the Grover kids and I was anxious to see one. On the schoolgrounds earlier that morning, Bill Soliday had been telling a bunch of kids that one boy coming from Grover had spent most of the summer in jail, after attempting to murder one of his teachers at Grover. A lot of the kids who heard Bill believed him, but a couple of us were skeptical. I suppose it was possible, but would they REALLY send some kid with a criminal record to Wacko? Don't those kind of kids go to special schools or something? And knowing Bill, he might have been making the whole thing up anyway. It was hard to know whether or not to believe ANY of the rumors you heard on the schoolgrounds. Especially ones that had anything to do with the kids coming from Grover. 

Some things talked about on the schoolgrounds I did believe, though. Like, Kevin Walker-Noles going to private school this year, and Stacy Holgrem and Casey Langford both moving away over the summer. It was really too bad about that. I hadn't known Kevin that well, but Stacy I'd been friends with since gradeschool and I'd liked Casey a lot, too. It was awful that they had to move away right when we got to be the top dogs at Wacko. 

"Mona! Hi!" 

I looked up to see my boyfriend, Matt Zeboski, sliding into the desk next to me, a smile on his face. I blushed slightly and smiled back. Matt and I have been going out since the end of 6th grade, and I love him to pieces. He can be kind of immature, but he's also really sweet and super funny. I was thrilled that we got to be in the same homeroom this year. I returned his greeting, and the two of us talked together until the final bell rang and class started. 


	3. Keith

Keith

Keith

"132, 133, 134... aha!" I stopped in front of locker 135 and held the code to my combination lock up so I could read it better. Honestly, the print was so tiny. I tried to open my locker with no avail about three times before I realized the number I'd been reading as a '5' was an '8'. 

"Stupid thing..." I muttered to myself and twirled the lock quickly, shaking my head in disgust. 

"Having trouble, Keith? Poor thing." 

I gritted my teeth at the sound of a voice I knew only too well. It belonged to none other then the girl I'd had a mad crush on last year: Jana Morgan. 

Boy, there was a mess if ever there was a mess. Ugh. Last year had been just horrible. See, I'd been going out with Jana's best friend, Beth Barry, for like a year when I started to see how cool **Jana was. I hadn't really hung out with Jana much before 7th grade- but when we started junior high, guys and girls went out in groups a lot together and since Beth and Jana are best friends, when I was Beth, usually we'd also be with Jana and her boyfriend, Randy Kirwan. So it wasn't until we were hanging out together in groups that I'd got to see Jana a lot. And developed a really big crush on her. I'd realized she was just the kind of person I wanted for a girlfriend... everything about her just fit. But there was one big problem.

Unfortunatly, she's been going out with Randy Kirwan for ages. You should know right away that Randy is one of the most popular boys in the entire school, and Jana is one of the most popular girls, so imagine how well known it is that they're a couple. And the weird thing is, everyone always talks about how perfect they are for each other. Which I personally just cannot see. Jana is way to good for Kirwan. 

Or at least I thought so. When they split as an experiment or something in 7th, I saw my chance to get Jana once and for all, so I broke up with Beth. But when I started asking Jana out, she kept turning me down and saying stuff like 'Beth's my best friend' and 'I won't date my best friend's boyfriend'. Honest! At first I couldn't believe it. Talk about DUMB. I mean, it was like Beth ruled her life or something. Anyway, to get back to the main point, I told everyone at school that something was secretly going on between us. I guess I knew Jana would hate me more for that, but deep down I kept hoping for some reason she'd come to me whenever everyone in the school started snubbing her. But to my dismay, things backfired on the schoolground one morning, and to make an embarrassing story short, Jana and Randy got back together, and I became the loser. For awhile anyway. Guys don't hold stuff like that against you very long. Except Randy. He still hates my guts. Not like I care. 

Anyway, I stayed away from the 'Perfect Couple' for the rest of the year and didn't see either of them over the summer. But I couldn't go on hiding forever. I would have to face Jana sooner or later and show her she couldn't make a loser out of me. 

Just then my locker popped open and I smiled to myself. 

"No, Jana. Actually I'm not having trouble with my locker. But thank you so much for your concern," I said equaling her sarcasm and turned around to face her. But she wasn't standing right behind me like I thought she'd be. Instead, I realized she'd moved across the hall and was working her own locker combination. Still, there weren't THAT many kids in our area, so I knew she had heard me. 

"Whatever," she muttered, tossing her hair, and then turned around herself and paused a moment to give me a withering look before moving down the hall. But I barely noticed the glare she gave me. And I couldn't even fire another smart remark. I was too in awe. 

Was that really Jana Morgan?

Man, I thought she was cute last year. Where had she been this summer? Camp Make-Over? I'd never seen anyone change so much in 3 months. Talk about hot. She was a couple inches taller and her figure was nothing short of fantastic. Her thick brown hair was sunstreaked and hung below her shoulders, and she had one of the darkest tans I'd seen. The overall impression was, I don't know... I'd say, like, radiant or something, but that sounds pretty dorky. Still, I couldn't think of a better word then that. 

"Oh, geez," I thought, leaning against my locker with a sigh. How was I ever going to be able to hate her this year?


	4. Christie

Christie

Christie

I sighed happily and smiled to myself as I walked into my homeroom and took a seat near the front. Who cares that I got grouchy Mr. Naset for homeroom or that none of The Fabulous Five were with me? I was just so HAPPY to be back at Wakeman! Good old, super-friendly Wacko. No more dark, musty halls. No more stupid uniforms. No more lunch periods with your TEACHER sitting with you and your friends. No more weird lunches. (Well, okay, nevermind. Scratch that one.) I just felt so free! Honestly, if I wasn't such a conservative person, I would have gotten up and danced around the room. 

Ok, yeah, I did miss some things about England. I mean, I *had* made good friends there. Phoebe, Eleanor, Nicki... Connie. I had even grown to like my incredibly strict teacher at St. Meg's. In fact, this past summer, when we had been preparing for the move back to Connecticut, I had felt so torn. Half of me was dying to be with The Fab Five again, but I also felt heartsick about leaving my London pals. I mean, they were my best friends there. It was scary to think about how long it would be before I'd see them again. If I ever did! Fortunatly, Pheeb, El, Nicki and Connie had all been able to assure me of how we'd all still be friends and would definitely see each other again in the future. And that helped a lot. I had started getting optomistic about being back in the States again. Because really, no matter what great things came into my life, nothing could replace The Fabulous Five. We'd been the absolute best of friends for soooo long. Yeah, we had had our share of rocky times together, but through it all, we've remained super close and do anything and everything we can for each other. Just knowing that I could run to them at any time made me feel so *secure*. 

I leaned back in my seat, daydreaming about all the fun things I could do again now that I was back in Bridgeport. Bumpers, the mall, Mama Mia's, movies at Cinema 6... just getting to hang out with The Fab Five and all my other friends... like Dekeisha, Alexis, Mona, Mandy... Chase. I sat up straighter at that thought. Chase Collins. He had been, like, my sort of boyfriend last spring when we had moved to London. Boy, had that been tough. Just when I find a guy I really like, I have to move across the ocean. Then once I get to England, there's Connie Farrel. He had been sort of like a boyfriend over there. And I liked him a LOT. But Chase was different. Chase makes me feel like NOBODY else ever has. Ever since the minute I'd learned we'd be moving back to the U.S., I'd been wondering how things would be between us when I was in his area again. Would we just kind of pick up where we left off? I knew he liked me, and he knew I liked him. At least, that's what we'd gotten across in our letters to each other. In fact, I had thought that I'd see him right after we moved back to town a couple weeks ago. Like, maybe he'd come to see me. But he hadn't. I hadn't even glimpsed him at Bumpers or around town. Which was kind of weird. I knew he was still around. Maybe he wasn't as enthusiastic to see me as I had thought. (Or hoped.)

Oh, come on, Christie, I scolded myself. Be fair. You really haven't been back here THAT long. He was probably just getting ready for school himself. You'll see him soon for sure. I couldn't help smiling at that. Yes, I'd probably be seeing him REALLY soon. I'd have at least ONE class with him. Maybe he was even in my homeroom! I sat up straight and glanced around the room. I didn't see him yet. But kids were still coming in. And hey, if I didn't get to talk to him at school, there was always Bumpers later on.


	5. Laura

Laura

Laura

"--and so NOW Jared and *Jennifer* are going out! Can you BELIEVE it?! Poor Melinda! She must be crushed. But maybe not for long. *I* heard that Steve Herdenandez likes her. At least according to Sara Sawyer who heard it from Mark Peters. And then..."

I couldn't help smiling and shaking my head as Tammy Lucero plunged into another gossip story. Geez, it was only lunch period, and already she had enough gossip to last year. How in the world did she even HEAR all these things? I could see my other two best friends, Melissa McConnell and Funny Hawthorne, were also looking amused. Well, actually Melissa looked sort of annoyed. (She gets tired of Tammy's gossip the fastest. I think it's because she isn't easily impressed. Like, for her to be interested in one of Tammy's stories, it has to be something really out of the ordinary- not he likes her and she's dating him and all that stuff.) And Funny... well, Funny always looked amused. 

I continued to tune Tammy out as I munched on my sandwich and glanced around the cafeteria. It was the usual lunch scene... noisy and packed. I actually knew almost all the kids, though. But then, I guess that's pretty normal when you're practically the most popular girl in school, I thought with a self-satisfied smile. The only real competition I had was from maybe Alexis Duvall or Shawnie Pendergast. I frowned. And of COURSE The Fabulous Five. They're the worst enemies of my clique, The Fantastic Foursome. They're ALWAYS on our case, trying to show The Fantastic Foursome up. I bristled, wondering what kind of schemes they'd be up to this year. I peered around the cafeteria, trying to get a glimpse of them so I could give them a dirty look, but I couldn't see them anywhere. I really hadn't seen much of them much during morning classes either. Christie was in my homeroom, Beth was in my science class, and I had briefly glimpsed Melanie in the hall, but that was about it... I really hadn 't seen Katie and Jana at all. 

I turned back to my friends. 

"Hey, what about the You-Know-Whos?" I said, interrupting Tammy midsentance. 

"The You-Know-Whos?" Funny asked blankly, her wide blue eyes looking puzzled. Melissa shot her a disgusted look. 

"The Fabulous Five, of course. Right?" She said glancing at me. 

I nodded and looked back at Tammy. "So? What kind of rumors have you heard about them?" 

She laughed. "Oh, just stuff. You know, like, for example, everyone's betting on how long it will take Christie and Chase to get together. And a bunch of kids think Katie will be back on Teen Court again. Then someone said that Beth had some cousins from the state penitentery out to visit over the summer and the cousins tried to bomb her house or something." 

We all laughed. "Trust Beth to have juvenile delinquents for cousins," I giggled under my breath. Then louder, I said "What about Melanie and Shane? Do you know whether they're still going out?" 

Shane Arrington was the boy I was madly crushing on, had been madly crushing on for YEARS. He was cool and athletic and sweet and totally HOT and unfortunately dating MELANIE EDWARDS of all people. How he could even WANT to associate himself with The Fabulous Five was beyond me. 

Tammy gave me a sympathetic look. "I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but yeah. They're still dating. At least that's what everyone says and I even saw them together in the halls a couple times today. Holding hands and stuff. Sorry." 

I rolled my eyes. "Well, it can't last much longer. I mean, Melanie just CAN'T stand to be tied down to one guy for too long. Especially with some new guys this year. *And* Melanie and Shane have been dating since *Valentine's Day*... sooo, I expect a breakup any day now." 

"That's the spirit!" Melissa said in a ditzy voice (pretty out of character for her) and Tammy and I cracked up. Then I noticed Funny, who was sitting next to me, wasn't joining in. I scowled. Oh right, I'd forgotten she was pretty buddy-buddy with The Fabulous Five. Honestly, if didn't like her so much, I'd kick her out of the group for that. It was totally traitorish for her to be pals with THOSE girls. And the worst part was that she was closest with JANA MORGAN, who is the leader of The Fabulous Five, for pete's sake. Oh, which reminded me...

"So, what about Jana?" I asked Tammy. "You haven't said anything on her yet. Surely there must be SOME dirt about her you've heard." 

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Funny frown as she took a sip of her milk. 

Tammy giggled and shrugged. "Nothing, besides everyone saying she got plastic surgery over the summer." 

I dropped my sandwich just as Funny spluttered to keep her milk in her mouth instead of all over the table. 

"WHAT?!" We shrieked at the same time, causing a kids at the surrounding tables to give us puzzled looks. "What about plastic surgery?" I exclaimed lowering my voice. "I didn't hear about this." 

"It's nothing but a lie," Funny said shakily, finding her voice. "So cut it out, Tammy. You KNOW that it's not true. She's like, what? Not even 14 yet! And everyone's saying she got plastic surgery?! Honestly! Get real! I wish you'd quit spreading stuff around that you know is totally false."

Tammy gave her a superior look. "Oh, really? How else do you explain all her curves?" 

"Curves? Jana?" I snorted, trying to sound as if this news was totally trivial, when I could feel myself starting to pale. "In the same sentence? I don't believe it." 

"You better believe it," Melissa rolled her eyes. "Haven't you seen her yet, Laura? She looks so different a barely recognized her." 

"Would you guys just lay off?" Funny snapped, her eyes flashing. "There is nothing abnormal about Jana, okay? She developed over the summer! It happens, okay? Everyone's bodies change at different times and hers just... happened all at once." Then she turned to glare at Melissa. "And maybe she does look kind of different. She' s taller, curvier, tanner... a different haircut. Prettier. But she's still Jana and she's still my friend so I'd appreciate you all watching what you say about her." 

"Whoa," Melissa said sarcastically, and I glared at Funny. 

"Hey, who's clique are you in, anyway? The Fantastic Foursome or The Fabulous Five? Because it's kind of hard to tell." 

Funny glared back. "Don't be ridiculous. You know you guys are my best friends. It's just that I like Jana, too, and I don't like people saying nasty stuff about her." 

"Nasty stuff?" Tammy echoed. "What's so nasty about people making over her great figure?" 

Great figure. The words stung me. *I* was the one with the great figure, not Jana. Well, I thought glancing down. I wasn't exactly really busty, but I wasn't flat either, and I was slim, so... well, Jana would have to look pretty terrific to pass me up, I thought firmly. 

"Nothing wrong with THAT," Funny sighed. "But people need to accept the fact that she just changed. Not all these stupid rumors about her getting plastic surgery. Obviously everyone knows it's not true, and the only thing it'll do is get back to Jana and make her feel self concious." 

"I think she must feel self concious already," Melissa snorted. "She walks down the hall and half the guys run into each other turning around to look after her." 

This was getting worse by the minute. Okay, so there had been some cute guys last year who had liked her, like Parker Donovan and Keith Masterson, (and of course there was her boyfriend, Randy Kirwan), but she had never gotten attention from guys like, say, *I* did, for example. 

"Well, she can't be that pretty," I remarked sourly, crumpling up my lunch bag. "She probably looks just different enough that people can't help but notice and make a few remarks." 

"I don't know," Tammy frowned thoughtfully. "She has gotten a LOT prettier then last year." When she saw the look on my face, she quickly added, "But she's still not as pretty as you. Obviously." 

I smiled at her, even though I was still worried. Not really worried that Jana was better looking then me, just upset that she was apparently getting so much more attention then she used to. Great, I thought, annoyed. That was all I needed. It had been a struggle enough keeping up with The Fabulous Five LAST year. Now this. Well, it didn't matter. It didn't matter even if Jana looked like a brunette Barbie doll. The Fantastic Foursome was going to be *the* top of the social ladder this year. And I would still be getting the most attention from guys. No matter what. I would see to that. 


	6. Danae

Danae

"Gross, look at this lunch," I complained to my best friend, Lily Fergusen, as we seated ourselves at a lunch table in the Wakeman cafeteria and set our hot lunch trays down in front of us. "You'd think for as great as this school is supposed to be, they'd have better lunches than this!" 

Lily nodded, making her shiny auburn hair bounce. "I know what you mean. I even heard that the lunches have improved some since previous years!" 

I wrinkled my nose. "Seriously? Oh, brother." I poked at the unidentifiable casserole on my plate with my fork, than glanced around the noisy room, deciding to stall taking my first bite. "So, what do you think so far, Lil?" I asked. 

Lily looked up from where she was digging into her delicious (big sarcastic laugh) lunch. She shrugged as she glanced around the room herself. "Well, it's not that bad, I guess. It's certainly bigger and more modern than our old school, that's for sure. And most people seem pretty nice."

I rolled my dark green eyes. "TOO nice if you ask me. It's so obvious that they're totally trying to be as nice as possible, hoping to hide their suspicions about us." 

Lily didn't look up from her plate this time and continued eating. "You mean their suspicions about us all being evil 'cause we're from Grover?" 

"Exactly," I said, pointing my so far unused fork at her. "They're all hoping that us Grover kids are stupid enough not to notice how much they're scared of us." 

Lily laughed and took a drink from her milk carton. "I think it's funny, personally. Today when I stopped in the girls' room between classes, two other girls were in front of the mirror brushing their hair and you should have seen their faces when I reached into my purse to get my compact! OMG, Danae, it was so funny! They looked as if they thought I was about to pull a gun out! They totally froze up and everything!" 

We both had a good laugh at that, although I did find it kind of insulting that they would all think we're a bunch of bad guys. I opened my own carton of milk and took a small sip. 

"Well, we'll just have to prove them all wrong," I said forcefully. "What we need to do, Lil, is get into the cool crowd here. Show them that we're deserving of hanging with the populars. I mean, you and I DID pretty much make up the cool group at Grover." And that was true. Lily and I had always had an unofficial rule over the kids in our class, and especially in the younger grades. That's why it sucked so bad coming to Wacko because we were 'nothings' here, if even that high. 

"Who are you thinking of getting to know?" Lily asked, pushing her empty plate aside and glancing at my lunch tray. 

I shrugged and glanced around again. "I dunno yet for sure. Shawnie Pendgergast, for one. Since she's running for class president and everything. You can't get much higher than that." I looked over at Lily and groaned. "Lil, would you like my lunch? I can't even understand how you could possibly eat your OWN let alone want MORE, but I can tell you're about ready to bite into your tray." Lily has one of the biggest appetities I've ever seen. I swear, she could eat all day every day and never fill up. And what's SO unfair is that she's really skinny. Here I am counting calories practically to stay at a normal weight and she can eat two whole lunches and not gain an ounce. 

"Really, Danae? Are you sure?" Lily asked, eyeing my plate. 

I sighed and shoved it towards her. "Positive. I'll get a candy bar on my way out." I took another sip of milk as Lily started chowing away. "Now, where we were." 

"Meeting the popular people," Lily said between mouthfuls. 

I nodded. "Right. I already said Shawnie, didn't I? Now, who else can help our status around here..."

"Alexis Duvall?" Lily asked, motioning towards a full lunch table where a cute dark haired girl with an amazing sweater on was sitting with a bunch of other girls, including Shawnie Pendergast. "She's supposed to be pretty popular." 

I titled my head. "I haven't heard too much on her, but she looks like she's pretty good friends with Shawnie, anyway, so it can't hurt." 

"Heeyy, what about The Fantastic Foursome?" Lily remarked suddenly with a smirk. I shot her a 'drop-dead' look. 

"As if! You've got to be kidding me," I snapped. "I wouldn't be caught dead with them... especially that Laura person." 

One of the biggest horrors I discovered when we arrived at Wakeman (aptly nicknamed Wacko) was that Laura McCall was not only a student here, but in my grade and several classes. Besides the fact that Laura is a total snot and totally hard to like, we have a rotten history. Not going into any details, our fathers have been feuding for years. See, they both work at the same company, but about 7 or 8 years ago, they were both battling for the same promotion, and in the end, neither of them got it. Both our fathers blame each other for it and it's caused a lot of discomfort for their families, too. It's almost sorta silly, because I don't even know Laura all that well, but we've always hated each other, just from assosiation with the feud. But I didn't feel bad about it at all, because I've met Laura now and she's definitely worth disliking. It appears she feels the same about me, too, from our clash today. 

"Yeah, I know," Lily replied. "I don't really want to hang out with them either. I haven't seen Laura too much, but I heard two of her friends talking *loudly* before one of the classes today about the "Grover Trash"." 

I shook my head in disgust. Then I sighed and leaned back a little. 

"Moving back to the previous topic, who else should we put on our list?" 

Lily peered around the cafeteria. "Umm, oh hey! What about those girls," she said motioning towards a table a few away from ours. "I keep seeing them around school and they seem really popular. Everyone seems to know them." 

I looked over to see who she was talking about and smiled. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten The Fabulous Five! Of course! They were all really popular, and seemed a whole lot nicer than *Laura* and her stooges. 

"Great idea, Lil!" I said with a grin. "We definitely should try to make friends with The Fabulous Five." 

"The whats?" Lily asked, looking puzzled. 

"The Fabulous Five," I repeated. "Haven't you heard about them? They're all really well known and liked, and even better- they're supposed to be, like, rivals of Laura and her friends!" 

Lily grinned. "Ooh, that does sound ideal. Let's find out all their names and then keep a lookout for them in our classes. I'm sure an opportunity to meet them will present itself." 

I took another sip of milk, feeling pleased. It looked as though our prayer for popularity was almost answered.


	7. Shane

Shane

"T.G.F.L.!" Brad Cochran cried as he came up behind me in the lunchline. It was the first day of 8th grade and *finally* lunch period. 

"Amen to that," I replied with a laugh as I scooted my tray down the steam tables. T.G.F.L. stood for 'Thank God For Lunch' and was something a bunch of us football players came up with last year. Creative, isn't it? 

"How's your morning gone?" Brad asked, following me down the steam tables. 

I shrugged. "Ok," I said, adding an identifiable casserole plate to my tray. "I mean, it's school, so naturally it's not *wonderful*, but it's going fine." 

Brad nodded in agreement. "Same here. A definite plus being an upperclassman, though!" He added with a grin. 

"Yeah, totally!" I said. 

"You and Melanie still a thing?" Brad asked a moment later as we payed for our lunches and turned to find a table somewhere in the crowded cafeteria. 

I couldn't help smiling at the mention of my girlfriend and nodded. "Yup, I've run into her a couple times today, too. Plus she's in my history class." 

"Cool," Brad said with a laugh. "I knew you guys didn't see much of each other over the summer since she was at camp and everything." 

I made a face. "Yeah, that really sucked." I motioned with my head towards a table near the back of the room. "There's some seats over there. Let's go." 

Brad followed me over to the table where a bunch of our guy friends from football were sitting and we sat down to a chorus of greetings. The topic I soon found was primarily school, although football practice came up several times, too. 

"I can't believe I got Mr. Waldrop for social studies again," Steve Hernandez was moaning. "His class is SUCH a snore!" 

"You think HIS class is a snore," Don Petry countered, pointing his banana at Steve. "You should be in Mr. Naset's history course. Talk about a snoozer. It's like he WANTS us to dread coming to his class." 

"I know," Steve muttered. "I had Mr. Naset last year. But Ms. Winslow isn't much better! She's really weird- it kinda freaks me out. "

"Kinda?! Totally! That lady- I swear- is from another planet!" David Boswell cried. 

"Help- my teacher is an alien!" I mimicked in a high-pitched voice, causing everyone to break up. 

"Has anyone run into any Grover kids yet?" Brad asked a minute later. 

"Oh yeah, lots of times," Steve replied. "I have at least one Grover kid in everyone of my classes. I haven't talked to them all though. Or any of them really. Sorta one who sits near me, Butch or something." 

"Butch?" David snorted, making a face. "Sounds about right." 

"Do you know him?" I asked, turning to David. 

David gave me a weird look. "Of course not. I just meant that sounds like a name a guy from Grover would have." 

"Or a girl from there, for that matter," Brad snickered causing another round of laughter. I laughed, too, although I felt sorta mean. Grover kids had a bad rap, but I didn't know any of them enough to make any sort of assumption about them. And besides- not all of them were going to be the same. It wasn't really fair to judge them all and write them all off before we even KNEW them. 

"Speaking of girls," Bill Kingman, another guy sitting at the table, said suddenly. "Anyone seen any notable new cute ones?" 

Don laughed. "You flirt," he teased. "That's all you can talk about, huh? Girls!" 

"Well, why not?" Bill asked with a fake innocent grin. "But seriously- anybody?" 

Steve swollowed a bite of his sandwich before replying. "One girl from Grover I saw wasn't too bad. Dana or Daphne or something."

"Grover!" David scoffed. "Who cares about the girls from there? For all you know they might pull a gun on you the minute you're alone with one!" 

"Dude, why are you so against the Grover kids?" I asked, unable to keep it back any longer. 

"Why are you so for them?" David retorted. 

I flushed slightly as I realized everyone at the table was staring at us. I shrugged. 

"I just don't think it's fair to judge them all when you don't even know ANY of them," I replied calmly. 

"Better safe than sorry," David snapped. I started to reply, then decided against it, and shrugged again. There was an uncomfortable silence for a second, then Steve spoke up. 

"Well, I don't know about *new* girls, but I have seen some from last year that could be new girls for how different they look," he said. 

"Like who?" I asked, curious. I had seen a bunch of girls I knew from last year and no one had looked that different to me. New hairstyles or tans or something, but definitely not unrecognizable. 

"A couple, but first prize definitely goes to Jana Morgan," Steve stated. 

"Oh my g**," Brad cried, thawking his empty milk carton down on the table. "I know! Wow, yeah! She's in my homeroom and I almost couldn't believe it when I saw her. I seriously did NOT even recognize her at first!" 

"Me neither," David agreed, with a nod. 

"Really?" Bill asked interestedly. "I haven't seen her yet. Is it a good different or bad different?" He peered around the cafeteria as if trying to get a glimpse of her. 

The other guys swapped grins. 

"Definitely *good* different," Steve laughed. 

"And she was pretty last year," David remarked. 

"Man, now I'm all curious!" Bill complained. "Guys, come on- look around and see if you can locate her in here."

Brad laughed. "Don't worry, man. You'll see her soon enough. You can't really miss her." 

Bill raised his eyebrows. "Wow, that good, huh?" 

Steve and Brad just looked at each and grinned again. I shook my head. 

"Have you seen her, Shane?" Bill asked, noticing me shaking my head. 

"Yeah, I saw her before school started. When she got back from the beach," I replied without much interest. It kind of bugged me to hear the guys talking about Jana like they were- don't get me wrong, she was as pretty as they said, but she was also still going steady with one of my best friends- Randy Kirwan. I don't like it when guys talk about other guys' girlfriends. I certainly wouldn't want them talking about Melanie like that. 

"So that's where she hid out all summer," Bill remarked. "And why I didn't see her at all." 

"Yeah, I saw her before school started, too," Brad added. "And before she went to the beach. It was there that I think she really changed. Or at least her being gone so long made it more noticable." 

"It?" Bill laughed. 

"Guys!" I broke in, exasperated. "Come on! Knock it off." 

"Whoa!" Don said, raising his eyebrows at me. 

David, who was obviously still miffed with me, gave me a look. "What is your *problem* today, Arrington? Talk about people changing over the summer. What happened to you? You used to be a lot more fun. Now you're like a goody-two shoes grandma." 

"Yeah, Shane," Brad muttered. "You don't have to bite our heads off. We were just having some fun." 

"Sorry," I said evenly, "but in case you aren't aware, maybe I should remind you that Jana is still Randy's girlfriend, and I kinda doubt he'd appreciate everything you guys are saying about her." 

Steve laughed. "Like I'd say stuff about her around him!" 

I fought the impulse to roll my eyes. Hello! They were totally missing the point. 

"Forget it," I muttered, piling my lunch refuse onto my tray and standing up. "I was just giving my opinion, that's all. I'll talk to you guys later, ok?" 

"Later, man," Brad said, giving me a chin up, and Don raised his right hand in a slight wave. I sighed as I made my way over to the tray return. I was just getting ready to leave the cafeteria when I heard someone call my name. I looked around and saw some of my other guy friends motioning from a table near the door. I headed over. 

"Hey, guys, what's up?" I asked, sliding into an empty space. 

"Not much," Mark Peters replied. "Did you finish eating already?" 

I nodded and grinned. "Yeah, I was starved. Nothing makes you hungrier then sitting through the first morning back to school." 

"Amen to that," Randy Kirwan laughed, raising his milk carton in a salute. "We're almost done," he added. "If you can wait a minute, we can all go outside together. Maybe shoot some hoops or something before the bell." 

"Ok," I agreed happily, feeling my good mood returning. Even though I had orginially gone to Riverfield Elemantary and Randy and his best friends to Mark Twain, I had really hit it off with them last year. Especially Randy, since Jana and Melanie were best friends and as we had hung out with our girlfriends a lot last year, besides sports functions... well, we got to know each other pretty well. 

"Cool," Scott Daly, another guy previously Mark Twain-ian said. "I feel like I haven't talked to you forever, Shane." 

"I know," I replied making a face. "I don't think we have any classes together in the morning." 

He shook his head, then grinned. "Maybe we'll luck out this afternoon though." 

"Yeah," I laughed, giving him a thumbs up sign. "Here's hoping." 

"Math is going to be my least favorite class again this year," Randy groaned, pointing a finger down his throat. "I can tell already. Algebra is the pits." 

"I'm there with you, Randy," Mark agreed. Than laughed, "But hey, I know this one girl who is pretty good in algebra and even likes it! Jana Morgan or something... I bet she'd be willing to tutor you. I think you should check it out." 

"Hey, yeah," Randy grinned, playing along as we all started laughing. "Check it out or her check her out." 

"Either or both," Scott snickered. 

I stopped laughing as I recalled the conversation I'd had not too long ago with the other guys. 

"Speaking of checking Jana out..." I frowned. 

Randy gave me a puzzled look, raising one eyebrow. "What?" 

I paused a minute, trying to decide if I should say anything. "Well," I said slowly. "Nothing really... I guess. I don't know," I sighed. "I guess I just think you should know that, um, a lot of guys are talking about her this year, saying stuff." 

Randy looked concerned. "Stuff? Good stuff or bad stuff?" 

"Oh, good," I said quickly, than made a face. "Well, I guess good. Compliments, anyway. They aren't saying anything mean about her, that's for sure." 

"Well, yeah!" Scott broke in. "She's hot!" 

When Randy gave him a look, Scott grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm allowed to say that, Randy- I'm one of your best friends!" 

Randy rolled his eyes than looked back at me. "I appreciate your concern, Shane. You're a good friend." He started collecting his trash. "I figured a lot of people- guys, whatever- were going to talk about her a lot. It's ok, I guess. I know how Jana and I stand, and I'm not really worried." Then he grinned at us. "As long as they don't try anything funny." 

I laughed and shook my head. "You're cooler about it then I would be." I stood up and changed the subject. "Hey, let's go outside. I have a feeling today is going to be my day on the court." 

"Oh yeah?" Mark challenged with a smile. "We'll see about that. Me and Randy against you and Shane." 

"Cool," Scott agreed. "We can be Stupendous 'S's!" 

"How about The Weirdos?" Randy said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "Come on, guys. Let's go settle this outside." 

"You're on!" I laughed.


End file.
